[crazygringo]

> This kind of work does not lend itself well to TDD.

I couldn't disagree more. Indeed, it's precisely because framework and library black box behavior and upgrades tend to introduce random unforeseeable bugs that TDD is essential.

It's super important to take some known inputs, and after a series of framework/library operations, to check that the outputs are what they're supposed to be, for normal operation and for all the wacko edge cases (zero-length strings, etc.).